After the scorching afternoons of May, the evening finally brought some relief.
Near my home, rice fields stretch far into the distance. Many evenings, I would simply walk through those fields to a small mound far away. There was never a particular reason. I just enjoyed the quiet walks.
That evening felt like any other.
As I walked, I noticed something unusual in the distance — smoke rising above the fields. During the summer, dry grass catching fire is not uncommon here, so at first I did not think much about it.
But as I moved closer, I realized that some farmers were burning crop residue in the fields. The wind had carried the flames into the nearby grassy areas.
I walked a little further.
And then I saw something that made me stop instantly.
Flames were spreading across the ground — and right in the middle of them stood a bird. Completely still.
It looked as if time had frozen around it.
Slowly, I walked closer.
It was a Red-wattled Lapwing.
As soon as I came near, the bird suddenly started flying around me, calling loudly and repeatedly. There was panic in its voice.
Something was terribly wrong.
I looked around more carefully.
And what I saw shook me deeply.
The bird had two tiny chicks.
One of them had already burned to death.
The other had tried to move away from the fire, but it was badly injured and struggling to escape the flames that were closing in.
Their mother kept returning again and again to the same spot.
She simply refused to leave her babies behind.
But every time she returned, she came dangerously close to the fire herself.
For a moment, I did not know what to do.
If I left things as they were, the injured chick would probably die… and perhaps the mother as well.
So I gently picked up the surviving chick and carried it away from the burning grass. I hoped that once her chick was gone from the flames, the mother would also move away from the fire.
For the next few days, I took care of the little bird.
Slowly, it recovered.
But the scene I had witnessed that evening stayed with me.
Sometimes, through our careless actions, we humans destroy the fragile world of creatures who are far weaker and more helpless than us.
A mother forced to watch her babies perish in front of her eyes…
Can we ever truly understand that pain?
Perhaps not.
But that moment of helplessness spoke louder than any words.
Even after the chick returned to the wild, I kept visiting the area for several days, quietly observing it from a distance.
I started noticing its movements, its alertness, its intelligence.
And gradually, a thought began to grow in my mind.
Maybe the world looks completely different through their eyes.
Nature provides everything they need to survive — food, shelter, life itself.
If I could learn to see the world the way they do, perhaps many of life’s questions would become clearer.
Maybe that was the moment when I fell in love with birds.
A deep love.
One that has only grown stronger with time.
I tried to understand them.
Some things I understood, many things I did not.
But I learned one important lesson:
In love, it is not always necessary to understand everything.
Sometimes, acceptance is enough.
I hope that one day these birds will teach me more — in their own language.
And whatever I learn along the way,
I will share it here with all of you.
Believe me…
This journey is going to be beautiful.
